San Diego considers cap on political party donations

Parties have given more than $1.3M to candidates since ban was lifted

Labor unions were actually the biggest spenders in the mayoral race, putting up $3.8 million in separate effort in support of Filner. The city firefighters union alone spent $730,000 on Filner’s behalf, while the business-backed Lincoln Club spent $880,000 to help DeMaio.

The Ethics Commission sought input from both major parties over the past year leading up to a council decision.

One argument in favor of a contribution limit is that parties can already spend unlimited sums on communicating with members of their own party and efforts independent of the candidate.

“We believe that $5,000 would be sufficient to allow us and our member to fully exercise our constitutional rights of association and free speech,” the local Democratic Party wrote in its opinion. “As a matter of policy for the city of San Diego, we would recommend that the limit be $10,000, for both district and citywide elections.”

The argument against bans or limits is that they infringe upon constitutional rights of free speech and freedom of association. Supporters of unlimited contributions say it allows for the support of robust political competition.

“If the city decides to enact a limit it would be required to demonstrate that it seriously engaged in striking the required balance,” the local Republican Party wrote in its opinion. “If a limit was enacted that new limit should be a limit upheld by a past court decision and similar to other jurisdictions.”

The local Republican Party recommended no limit but alternatively suggested a limit of as high as $1 per each party’s registered voters in the city, which could be about $271,000 for Democrats and $182,000 for Republicans.Several major cities place contribution limits on parties, including New York ($4,950), Houston ($10,000) and Jacksonville, Fla. ($50,000). Others, like San Diego, don’t have limits, such as Chicago and Indianapolis.

The City Council will have to weigh all those factors as well as the threat of litigation if they impose a cap that critics consider too low.

The second expert hired by the city, Richard Hasen, a professor of law and political science at UC Irvine, said it’s difficult to predict how a court will react to a new limitation, although he considers Kousser’s recommendations to be reasonable.

“I believe a court is very likely, but not certain, to uphold such limitations as constitutional if challenged,” said Hasen, a leading expert on the topic.

Councilman Sherri Lightner, who chairs the rules committee, said she’s been a strong supporter of capping party contributions and noted she voted for the previous $1,000 limit.

“I am for anything that gives our communities a greater say in who will represent them,” she said. “Big money, whether it be from a political party or from a corporation, shouldn’t be able to drown out the voice of our neighborhoods when it comes to our local elections.”

In her successful re-election bid last year, Lightner received $24,000 from the Democratic Party to help her fend off challenger Ray Ellis, who received $74,000 from the Republican Party.

The rules committee hearing on the issue is 9 a.m. Wednesday.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the Ethics Commission hired the experts and that City Attorney Jan Goldsmith had recused himself from the matter. The City Attorney's Office hired the experts and Goldsmith didn't recuse himself.